New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, who is preparing to retire at the end of her term in 2026, recently reintroduced a bill designed to shift a bit of economic power back to workers.
The bill, known as the federal “Employee Profit Sharing Encouragement Act of 2025 (H.R. 6418),” currently under review in committee, would require large corporations with annual revenue exceeding $25 million — companies like Walmart, Amazon, ExxonMobil, UnitedHealth Group, Apple, and CVS — to share at least 5% of their net profits with their full- and part-time employees. Companies that fail to create such a profit-sharing plan would lose their deductions for executive compensation.
“Approximately 51 percent of American workers — about 65.4 million individuals — work for companies with revenue over $25 million and would benefit from profit-sharing,” a press statement from Watson Coleman’s office states. “The bill exempts 99.7 percent of American companies to ensure no small businesses are held to an unmanageable standard.”
One good reason for the bill, the congresswoman said, is that the wage gap between employers and workers is widening. She spoke about how corporations have been able to dole out increased profits to their executives and shareholders while keeping the wages of their regular workers the same. “Our tax code is riddled with giveaways for corporations,” Watson Coleman said, citing loopholes such as offshore borrowing and questionable manufacturing deductions. “It’s time for Congress to step in and ensure that companies invest in their workers.”
If H.R. 6418 is approved, it could impact the tax laws that apply to employees and how businesses pay their staff. Employee profit sharing is when a business directly gives part of its profits to its staff, usually as a bonus or retirement benefit, based on how profitable the business is. The profit-sharing plans can be tied to retirement accounts, and the IRS currently limits contributions to $69,000 or 25% of an employee’s compensation in 2024.
This bill closely resembles a previous one the congresswoman proposed, H.R. 2628 from 2023, which also attempted to link corporate tax breaks to worker benefits. H.R. 2628 was not enacted; it was introduced and referred to the House Ways and Means Committee but did not undergo specific committee markup or hearings during the 118th Congress.
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